1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to supporting structures for offshore wind power generators and, more particularly, to a supporting structure for offshore wind power generators which includes a lower support part, a main body part and an upper support part, each of which has a concrete part, a hollow space formed in the concrete part, and an inner pipe that defines the hollow space, wherein the inner pipe can improve the rigidity and ductility of each part, thus enhancing resistance to transverse loads at sea, and the hollow space of each part can reduce the weight thereof, and the parts of the supporting structure can be modularized so that the supporting structure can be constructed by assembling the parts, whereby there are advantages in terms of material and construction.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, in Korea, there are no design criteria on development of a supporting structure for offshore wind power generators. In the case of advanced countries in Europe, the design criteria for wind power generators have been established. However, advanced countries do not open source core technology, making a technological gap between the advanced countries and other countries.
In the case of design criteria used in a design for civil engineering and construction structures, the systematic load of a wind power generator cannot be directly applied to these design criteria, so it is impossible to obtain international certification. Further, in Korea, conservative and uneconomical design methods have been used, resulting in reduced price competitiveness, and making advance into the overseas markets difficult. Therefore, related technical development is urgently required.
For this, an example of a supporting structure for offshore wind power generators was proposed in Korean Patent Registration No. 1123257. The conventional support structure includes: a base plate 100 which is installed on the sea floor; a cylindrical main body 200 which is installed on an upper surface of the base plate 100; and a plurality of supports 300 which are installed diagonally in such a way that lower ends thereof are hinged to the upper surface of the base plate 100 and upper ends thereof are hinged to a sidewall of the main body 200. The base plate 100 and the main body 200 are made of concrete. As wind power towers and impellers have become larger, such supporting structures for supporting the towers and impellers have also become larger. Given this, if the main body is formed of concrete, the volume of the main body must be comparatively large. However, as such, if the volume of the supporting structure is large, the construction thereof cannot be facilitated, and excessive use of cement causes a problem of not being environment-friendly.